We referred him to his previous comments around his lack of involvement in the vitally important Local Plan Process and on Green Belt development. We pointed out that, despite his reticence, other MPs are taking an active role in the Local Plan Process in areas that they represent. He has stated in the past that it is up to Local People to decide whether they consent to development on Green Belt land and that properly funded infrastructure improvements need to be in place before development begins.On this basis we have asked to present our findings in relation to the Draft Local Plan and discuss areas where we might work together to protect our town.We await Mr Baron’s response and will publish it once it is received.

We were informed two years ago that they weren't going to build on green belt land . Since then Basildon council have reneged on this.
I am dreading them building new houses near to where I live.
I would like to know what is really happening with the houses being built.

Reply

Roland Lazarus

13/4/2017 00:27:08

Green Belt is defined in law as permanently open land. Let it mean that. If by infrastructure you mean roads, they would ruin more Green Belt land, polluting it with noise, light and air pollution. Green Belt has the purpose of preventing encroachment on the countryside which is exactly what new roads would be. The Council has not proven the necessity to build on Green Belt. They have not made a serious effort to use all vacant sites seeming to prefer to take yet more land out of Green Belt for new warehouses and the like despite a steady quarter of current warehouse sites remaining empty. There is no recognition that Basildon is a new town in the Thames Gateway Enterprise Area and Billericay is not. Our High Street is a conservation area. Basildon Town Centre has an unambitious Masterplan for renewal. More should be done with good bold new architecture to make the new town new again. We are benefitting from good estate renewals in Basildon raining housing density in sensitive ways and now exceed the latest DCLG household projection figures for numbers of new homes.